Thief steals National Vice Chair’s $75,000 at APC HQ

The sum of $75,000 reportedly went missing at the National Secretariat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Wednesday.

The Star learnt that the money belonged to one of the National Vice Chairmen of the party.

Another source said that the money was given to the official by a governor for onward delivery to the party leadership.

It was learnt the incident, which led to confusion at the party’s national secretariat, occurred at the main entrance gate of the Buhari House due to the inability of the security operatives to curtail the surging crowd that grounded human and vehicular activities.

Scores of APC members aspiring for various positions in the 2023 general election had stormed the party’s national secretariat to purchase the party’s nomination forms.

It was, however, gathered that the APC chieftain lost the sum of $75,000 when the brown envelope containing the money and his expensive handset fell off his hand.

It was further learnt that the incident led to the dismantling of tents already arranged for the party officials in charge of the sale of the nomination forms.

The party officials were later relocated to the International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja for the continuation of the sales of forms.

Party sources, however, disclosed that the missing money was in no way connected to the monies from the sale of nomination forms, noting that aspirants were directed to make deposits in the designated account numbers before picking up their forms at the party’s secretariat.

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A source said: “It’s actually $75,000. You know there was a struggle at the gate when aspirants and supporters were trying to get in.

“When the parcel of money dropped, it went missing in a flash. By the time security operatives were alerted, the thief had vanished with the envelope.”

Meanwhile, some APC stakeholders have stormed the Buhari House on a solidarity visit to the party’s national chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

The stakeholders, while addressing newsmen said: “We are here to encourage and support the National Chairman Sen Abdullahi Adamu Turakin Keffi to continue with the stiff measures that will make it difficult for unpatriotic party men to continue fraudulent activities that is affecting our party negatively.

“APC is standing strong with the policy of the National Chairman as he always studies an activity before approving such activity. The committee that reviews the management of the party and made submissions has done a great job.

“We are strongly supporting the decision taken by the party and the subsequent actions. The recent happenings in the party is a wake-up call to all APC management.

“As the primary elections are around the corner, we are appealing to the leadership of the party to introduce measures that will make it impossible for unpatriotic party men to manipulate any primary elections,” they stated.

The Star